Milano Cortina 2026: Record-breaking Paralympic Winter Games

As the Paralympic Winter Games celebrated its 50th anniversary, Milano Cortina 2026 broke multiple records, setting benchmarks for all future Games.

Record number of Para athletes and NPCs 

A total of 611 Para athletes from 55 National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) competed in the Games. This was the most ever, surpassing the previous record high of 564 Para athletes from 48 NPCs at Pyeong Chang 2018. 

Five NPCs made their Paralympic Winter Games debut with El Salvador, Haiti, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Portugal all competing on snow and ice for the very first time. 

More female competitors than ever before 

For the fourth successive Paralympic Winter Games, a record number of women  competed. A total of 160 female competitors challenged for medals across six sports, an 18 per cent increase on the previous record high of 136 women set at Beijing 2022. 

Six NPCs boasted a record number of female competitors for the Paralympic Winter Games:  Australia (5), Belarus (3), Brazil (3), Croatia (2), Korea (6), Latvia (4). 

Five sports had a record number of female competitors: Para alpine skiing (57 women), Para biathlon (45), Para cross-country skiing (65), Para snowboard (15) and wheelchair curling (25). 

Record number of medal-winning NPCs 

Highlighting the growing strength of winter Paralympic sport across the world, 27 NPCs won medals across 79 medal events. This is the greatest number of NPCs to win at least one medal at a Paralympic Winter Games, beating the previous high of 25 from the Lillehammer 1994 Paralympic Winter Games 

Eighteen NPCs won gold medals a joint record high, equalling the record set at PyeongChang 2018. 

Best Games ever for Italy 

Host nation Italy enjoyed their best ever Paralympic Winter Games winning 16 medals.  Italy’s previous highest number of medal wins was 13 at Lillehammer 1994. Italy’s tally included a record seven gold medals, beating the previous highest number of three gold medals form Innsbruck 1988, Nagano 1988 and Salt Lake City 2002. 

Biggest Para ice hockey crowd 

During the Games, the record for the biggest ever Para ice hockey crowd was broken not just once but twice. The record first fell on the first Saturday of the Games when 8,992 packed into the Santagiulia Arena in Milan to watch the Group A match between Italy and USA.  The previous high hockey crowd for a Paralympic Winter Games was 8,462 set for the Salt Lake City 2002 gold medal match. 

Sunday’s gold medal match between USA and Canada is set to attract a bumper 11,000 crowd. 

Historic first Paralympic winter medal for Brazil 

Thanks to Christian Ribera in the cross-country sprint, Brazil won its first ever medal – a silver – at the Paralympic Winter Games. Ribera made his Paralympic debut as a 15-year-old at PyeongChang 2018. 

Video views surpass Paris 2024 

By Saturday (14 March), there had been more than 414 million views of video content on the @Paralympics YouTube channel since competition began on 4 March. This number is 712.47 per cent more than the total number of video views for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games and is 67.05 per cent greater than the whole of 2024, which was previously a record year for the IPC’s channel. 

Most widespread global broadcast coverage 

Milano Cortina 2026 was the most widely broadcast Paralympic Winter Games in history with 20 Media Rights Holders broadcasting the Games to a record 126 countries on their linear free-to-air and Pay TV channels, and streaming, digital, social and audio platforms. In the remaining countries, the global stream will be available on the official Games digital platforms.